Saving Leuser ecosystem poses a long-term challenge
Saving Leuser ecosystem poses a long-term challenge
By Serge Wich
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): The Leuser ecosystem is one of the
most important rain forest preserves in the world and arguably
the most important in Southeast Asia.
No other area can boast a mixture of habitats from long
beaches fringing the Indian Ocean, to large tracts of coastal
peat swamps, to humid lowland forests, placid lakes, long rift
valleys, steep volcanoes and mountains which, until recent times,
were covered in glaciers. Nowhere else in the world do orangutan,
elephant, rhino and tiger live in the same area. The community of
lesser animals and an unknown number of plants still await the
attention of science.
The extraordinary richness of nature in Leuser is possibly
reason enough to conserve this area. But there are other reasons.
For eons, a large part of the Leuser ecosystem has had a high
cultural value to the people that surround it. In 1928, the
traditional leaders of the communities living near the western
half of what is now the Leuser ecosystem requested that their
forests and all that lay beneath be conserved for all time. After
about seven years of lobbying, the rugged mountains on the
interior were given protected status, but the rich lowlands that
constituted about half the area were excluded.
Another important reason is that the Leuser ecosystem provides
essential environmental services to up to four million people.
Things like water, flood control, local climate regulation and
fresh water fisheries are all utilized by the people living
around Leuser. The city of Medan relies on its water. The
industrial hub at Lhokseumawe in Aceh (gas fields, fertilizer
plants, paper mills and so on) all rely on Leuser's water, as do
large areas of rice fields. Without these services and many more,
sustainable economic development in Aceh and parts of North
Sumatra would be impossible.
So what is being done to conserve Leuser?
The good news is that there is adequate legislation in place
to support the conservation of the Leuser ecosystem. There are
government agencies that are given a major mandate in protecting
parts of the area -- the designated Gunung Leuser National Park
which lies at the heart of the Leuser ecosystem, a grand forest
park near Brastagi in North Sumatra, the designated Singkil Swamp
Wildlife Sanctuary, the Lingga-Isaq Hunting Reserve and a strict
nature reserve in the Serbajadi water catchment.
The downside is that government agencies charged with
protecting these areas have only limited resources at their
disposal.
To address these problems, the Leuser Development Program
(LDP) was instigated. This cooperation, jointly funded by the
Indonesian government and the European Union was, at the time of
its inception, one of the largest conservation projects in the
world. The project budget is 50.5 million euro -- of which the
European Union is contributing a grant of 32.5 million euro.
As a result of this intervention, the Leuser ecosystem (not
just the complex of conservation areas named above) has received
significant policy support. In short, it is now considered a
natural entity in its own right.
Local support
The Leuser ecosystem is about three times the size of Gunung
Leuser National Park and support for its conservation and
sustainable utilization is growing daily. Not surprisingly, the
first efforts to conserve Leuser came from the traditional
leaders of Aceh and North Sumatra.
Subsequently, universities, youth groups and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), of which there are currently more than 200,
have begun actively working to support the conservation of
Leuser. An NGO, the Leuser International Foundation, even has a
role in the management of the area. School books to be used
throughout the province of Aceh are soon to be distributed. The
long process of raising awareness and developing a sense of
ownership has begun.
In addition to the software referred to above, much has
happened on the ground. Large areas of degraded forest have been
rehabilitated; boundaries have been marked and planted by local
communities with commercial tree crops; over 400,000 hectares of
forest planned for clearance have been saved and are being
processed for conservation status.
Small tourism sites were developed but the situation in Aceh
made further development impractical for the time being. Several
logging concessions which were on areas of excessively steep
slopes have ceased operation. Two road proposals which would have
had a severe negative impact on the ecosystem were discontinued
and a major swamp drainage scheme was shelved before it could
begin.
There are, however, still many challenges to face. One that
has received a lot of publicity of late has been illegal logging,
which is occurring in most of the country's easily accessible
forests.
Some people have asked what the program is doing to help.
Indonesian policy is clear on this point. The job of stopping
illegal logging is very much the responsibility of government
agencies -- special forestry staff, the police and sometimes the
military. If any arrests are made, then it is the job of the
judiciary to process the cases. The fact that illegal logging
continues, and in fact is getting worse, means that either the
agencies responsible are not willing to take care of the matter
or they are not able to.
The LDP has provided information to a broad range of parties
about illegal logging and sometimes this information has been
acted upon by courageous effort, particularly by local forestry
and national park staff. But the organization behind illegal
logging -- from protection in the field to the transport of the
timber to processing plants and finally the marketing -- are
well-financed and given strong armed support. Stopping illegal
logging will therefore require sustained political pressure from
the highest levels in Indonesia.
If the Leuser ecosystem can be effectively conserved -- and
despite all the problems there is good reason to be optimistic --
then Indonesia will have a resource of extraordinary richness of
the like of which exists nowhere else. The local economies will
benefit greatly and the people will live richer lives. This would
be the ultimate win-win solution.
The writer is a long-term researcher on Primatology in
Leuser (sponsored by Utrecht University).
By Serge Wich
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): The Leuser ecosystem is one of the
most important rain forest preserves in the world and arguably
the most important in Southeast Asia.
No other area can boast a mixture of habitats from long
beaches fringing the Indian Ocean, to large tracts of coastal
peat swamps, to humid lowland forests, placid lakes, long rift
valleys, steep volcanoes and mountains which, until recent times,
were covered in glaciers. Nowhere else in the world do orangutan,
elephant, rhino and tiger live in the same area. The community of
lesser animals and an unknown number of plants still await the
attention of science.
The extraordinary richness of nature in Leuser is possibly
reason enough to conserve this area. But there are other reasons.
For eons, a large part of the Leuser ecosystem has had a high
cultural value to the people that surround it. In 1928, the
traditional leaders of the communities living near the western
half of what is now the Leuser ecosystem requested that their
forests and all that lay beneath be conserved for all time. After
about seven years of lobbying, the rugged mountains on the
interior were given protected status, but the rich lowlands that
constituted about half the area were excluded.
Another important reason is that the Leuser ecosystem provides
essential environmental services to up to four million people.
Things like water, flood control, local climate regulation and
fresh water fisheries are all utilized by the people living
around Leuser. The city of Medan relies on its water. The
industrial hub at Lhokseumawe in Aceh (gas fields, fertilizer
plants, paper mills and so on) all rely on Leuser's water, as do
large areas of rice fields. Without these services and many more,
sustainable economic development in Aceh and parts of North
Sumatra would be impossible.
So what is being done to conserve Leuser?
The good news is that there is adequate legislation in place
to support the conservation of the Leuser ecosystem. There are
government agencies that are given a major mandate in protecting
parts of the area -- the designated Gunung Leuser National Park
which lies at the heart of the Leuser ecosystem, a grand forest
park near Brastagi in North Sumatra, the designated Singkil Swamp
Wildlife Sanctuary, the Lingga-Isaq Hunting Reserve and a strict
nature reserve in the Serbajadi water catchment.
The downside is that government agencies charged with
protecting these areas have only limited resources at their
disposal.
To address these problems, the Leuser Development Program
(LDP) was instigated. This cooperation, jointly funded by the
Indonesian government and the European Union was, at the time of
its inception, one of the largest conservation projects in the
world. The project budget is 50.5 million euro -- of which the
European Union is contributing a grant of 32.5 million euro.
As a result of this intervention, the Leuser ecosystem (not
just the complex of conservation areas named above) has received
significant policy support. In short, it is now considered a
natural entity in its own right.
Local support
The Leuser ecosystem is about three times the size of Gunung
Leuser National Park and support for its conservation and
sustainable utilization is growing daily. Not surprisingly, the
first efforts to conserve Leuser came from the traditional
leaders of Aceh and North Sumatra.
Subsequently, universities, youth groups and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), of which there are currently more than 200,
have begun actively working to support the conservation of
Leuser. An NGO, the Leuser International Foundation, even has a
role in the management of the area. School books to be used
throughout the province of Aceh are soon to be distributed. The
long process of raising awareness and developing a sense of
ownership has begun.
In addition to the software referred to above, much has
happened on the ground. Large areas of degraded forest have been
rehabilitated; boundaries have been marked and planted by local
communities with commercial tree crops; over 400,000 hectares of
forest planned for clearance have been saved and are being
processed for conservation status.
Small tourism sites were developed but the situation in Aceh
made further development impractical for the time being. Several
logging concessions which were on areas of excessively steep
slopes have ceased operation. Two road proposals which would have
had a severe negative impact on the ecosystem were discontinued
and a major swamp drainage scheme was shelved before it could
begin.
There are, however, still many challenges to face. One that
has received a lot of publicity of late has been illegal logging,
which is occurring in most of the country's easily accessible
forests.
Some people have asked what the program is doing to help.
Indonesian policy is clear on this point. The job of stopping
illegal logging is very much the responsibility of government
agencies -- special forestry staff, the police and sometimes the
military. If any arrests are made, then it is the job of the
judiciary to process the cases. The fact that illegal logging
continues, and in fact is getting worse, means that either the
agencies responsible are not willing to take care of the matter
or they are not able to.
The LDP has provided information to a broad range of parties
about illegal logging and sometimes this information has been
acted upon by courageous effort, particularly by local forestry
and national park staff. But the organization behind illegal
logging -- from protection in the field to the transport of the
timber to processing plants and finally the marketing -- are
well-financed and given strong armed support. Stopping illegal
logging will therefore require sustained political pressure from
the highest levels in Indonesia.
If the Leuser ecosystem can be effectively conserved -- and
despite all the problems there is good reason to be optimistic --
then Indonesia will have a resource of extraordinary richness of
the like of which exists nowhere else. The local economies will
benefit greatly and the people will live richer lives. This would
be the ultimate win-win solution.
The writer is a long-term researcher on Primatology in
Leuser (sponsored by Utrecht University).